Children in South Korea, Canada, and Finland have a better chance of
getting a good education and a lower chance of falling behind than do
students in the United States, Germany, and Italy, according to the
report by the United Nations Children's Fund.

Released last month, the study —written by UNICEF's Innocenti
Research Center in Florence, Italy—seeks to give a "big picture"
analysis of educational performance in 24 of the world's industrialized
nations. It notes that student achievement is linked closely to
students' family backgrounds.

The study ranks countries by the size of the gap between low
achievers and average students. It uses test results in mathematics,
science, and literacy from two international surveys: the Trends in
International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, and the Program
for International Student Assessment, or PISA.

This latest report is the fourth in a series of UNICEF report cards
that investigate the health, education, and well-being of children in
member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, which represents the world's leading industrial countries.
OECD members have adopted the goal of "allowing each child to reach his
or her full educational potential."

Michael O. Martin, a co-director of the International Study Center
at Boston College, which administers the TIMSS project, says the UNICEF
report brings a new focus to the TIMSS data.

"[UNICEF] is hoping to draw attention to the fact that even in the
richest countries, some kids are left behind," he said. "And that those
kids who are at risk should not be forgotten."

The percentage of 15-year- olds who couldn't handle basic reading
tasks varied from about 6 percent in South Korea to more than 26
percent in Portugal. For the United States, the proportion of
15-year-olds not achieving basic reading literacy was 18 percent,
according to the report.

In math, the United States fared even worse. Almost 40 percent of
American 8th graders were unable to use basic math knowledge in
"straightforward situations," the report says, compared with fewer than
12 percent in South Korea and Japan, and 23 percent in Canada. Greece
and Portugal ranked at the bottom, with 48 percent and 68 percent,
respectively.

Student 'Trajectory'

In examining disparities within and between countries, the study
also posed this question: How far behind are the weakest students
allowed to fall?

To find an answer, it ranked countries on the achievement gap
between their students at the 5th percentile—the low end of test
performance—and the 50th percentile, or the exact middle. The
United States was among the nations that ranked near the bottom on that
measure, along with Germany, New Zealand, and Belgium. Those countries'
low achievers were approximately five years behind their
middle-achieving peers, according to the report.

For the country that did best on that measure, Finland, the gap
between the low and middle achievers was about 3.5 years.

Home environment plays a crucial role in children's education, data
cited in the report show. No matter what country, the more educated,
career-oriented, and wealthy the parents are, the further their
children's education tends to progress.

The reverse also holds true: The poorer and less educated the
parents are, the fewer educational opportunities their children tend to
have.

"A family's social, cultural, and economic status tends to act as a
rifle barrel setting an educational trajectory from which it is
difficult for a child to escape," the report says.

For example, German children whose parents have had some higher
education are more likely to attend rigorous, college-track schools
known as gymnasiums than are children whose parents are less educated,
according to the study.

Other data in the report suggest that high per-pupil spending and
low pupil-to-teacher ratios don't necessarily translate into higher
student achievement. The high-ranking South Korea, for example, spends
about the same amount per student as low-ranking Greece. South Korea,
Canada, and Japan have relatively high pupil-to-teacher ratios, yet
their students score better overall than students in Greece and Italy,
which have lower pupil-to-teacher ratios.

Vol. 22, Issue 15, Pages 10-11

Published in Print: December 11, 2002, as 'Achievement Gap' Is International Problem, UNICEF Analysis Says

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